


Now And Always

by ProfessorFlimflam



Category: Holby City
Genre: Berena Final Countdown, Episode fix: all of them, F/F, Fix-It, Post Mogadishu, Scars, They are ours now, countdown: eternity, countdown: fix-it, countdown: scars, now and always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-18 23:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22334887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorFlimflam/pseuds/ProfessorFlimflam
Summary: The wounds are extensive, but there is all the time in the world for healing.
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Comments: 7
Kudos: 77
Collections: The Final Countdown





	Now And Always

Serena frowned as she surveyed the damage before her. There was extensive scarring across the back: a long wound that ran from the right shoulder towards the left hip, as well as a peppering of smaller lacerations that in an RTC patient she would have called gravel rash. She had already noted crush injuries to one leg, and some burn scars, though these were mercifully confined to a small area below the large wound. All of this she took in while skimming over signs of previous injuries.

“So how do you think we should proceed, Ms Wolfe,” she asked, one hand settling lightly on the undamaged shoulder.

“With caution, I think,” Bernie replied as she carefully rolled over to reveal a few more scars than Serena remembered. Nothing as severe as she had sustained on her back, which had taken the force of the blast, as debris from the explosion had showered her with what amounted to shrapnel. 

Bernie’s instinct to protect her patient by shielding him with her own body had probably saved her life, though he had not been so fortunate. It had meant that the shard of glass from the shattered window had sliced across her back rather than catching her neck and chest as it would otherwise have done. The theatre she had been working in had trembled, great shuddering groans signalling the instability of the whole edifice, and as first the ceiling and then the floor had collapsed, she had been trapped along with her patient under rubble - she didn’t know for how long.

Her mind had mercifully blurred her recollections of that day and the weeks that followed, and her next waking thought had been of Serena. Evacuation from Mogadishu to Holby had followed as soon she was stable enough to travel, and it was Serena who had saved her leg. Now, after a slow and lengthy convalescence, life was returning to whatever passed for normal these days - though today had been anything but.

Serena smoothed a hand across Bernie’s forehead, her thumb tracing the line of her eyebrow. “I can do cautious,” she said with a smile, and lowered her head to kiss the path she had made with her thumb.

“Well,” Bernie amended, “Maybe not _too_ cautious...” and Serena took pity on her, kissing her slowly and so very tenderly.

“We’ll go at whatever pace you like, my darling. We’ve got all the time in the world now, haven’t we?” It wasn’t really a question, but Bernie wanted to reassure her that after everything that had come between them for so long, they would never willingly be parted again.

“We have. No more travels - unless they’re with you, to somewhere gorgeous and relaxing. And no more misunderstandings, no more running. I promised you, didn’t I?” She took Serena’s hand in her own, stroking the still unfamiliar ring she had placed there this morning, and she recalled the vow they had taken before their family and friends.

And she drew her wife to her, close and warm and so very alive with the joy of the moment.

“It’s you and me, Serena - now and always.”


End file.
